Comparison of recruitment strategies for a large-scale clinical trial in the elderly

Direct mailing was a successful recruitment strategy for a lung-cancer screening trial

“…However, use of such enriched data sources should be considered in light of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requirements, as well as the involvement of primary care providers. Additionally, as was the case for this study, physician referrals may be useful [15,16]. Results of this study should be interpreted in light of certain limitations.…”

Telephone reminders are effective in recruiting nonresponding patients to randomized controlled trials

“…Several controlled studies of postal surveys, however, have shown significantly higher response rates among those who received a telephone reminder [4,5]. Other related studies have investigated patient attendance in clinical trials or various screening programs [6][7][8].…”

Enhancing Participation of Older Women in Surgical Trials

“…There is a growing body of literature exploring the challenges facing researchers interested in recruiting and retaining older adults in clinical trials and intervention studies. 1,[4][5][6][7][8][9] The consensus is that it is more difficult to recruit older participants than younger participants and that older women are more difficult to recruit than older men. 10 Retention of older participants in trials after enrollment is reported to be comparable to retention of younger participants, 4,[11][12][13] but there are challenges to retention that are unique to the elderly-especially their dependence on family and caregivers for transportation.…”